UC now holds largest CRISPR-Cas9 patent portfolio
Today, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) granted a new CRISPR-Cas9 patent to the University of California (UC), University of Vienna, and Emmanuelle Charpentier covering new methods of gene editing in prokaryotic cells. The new patent (U.S. Patent No. 10,428,352) covers methods of targeting and binding or methods of cleaving a target DNA in a prokaryotic cell using Cas9 protein and single molecule DNA targeting RNAs. This patent specifically covers these methods in bacterial cells.
This is the fifth consecutive week that the USPTO has awarded a CRISPR-Cas9 patent to UC, which has immensely increased the compositions and methods covered in the portfolio. The university’s total portfolio to date includes 16 patents, marking the largest CRISPR-Cas9 patent portfolio in the country, and will rise to 18 in the coming weeks, once other applications that the USPTO has allowed are issued as patents. The extensive portfolio covers compositions and methods for the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology, including targeting and editing genes and modulating transcription in any setting, such as within plant, animal and human cells.
